Any help with managing my money......?

Question

I have been spending a lot lately and I need some balance...any advice?

Answer 1

make a monthly budget before the month begins

envelope system - put what money you have budgeted for each expense, when your envelope is empty you can't spend anymore money on that expense item
ex: $100 for eating out - you use all that money in the first 2 weeks of the month, you don't eat out anymore until next month

look into Dave Ramsey

Answer 2

The first thing to do: set up a savings account and have money deposited into it automatically. If you don't see it in your account, you won't have it to spend. And if possible, set up a savings account that's difficult to get to -- no ATM card, no online transfer; make it something you can't crack open on a whim. And the more you can put in that account, the better. Whether you want to save for a vacation, a house, retirement or the holidays, pay yourself first.

Next, though -- you need to think forward, rather than backward. It can REALLY help to use personal finance software; I've been a convert to Quicken for the past six years, but I started using it a year ago in a way that's really revolutionized our finances.

Here's what I do: I've set up all my regular bills (cellphone, internet, gas, lights, water, etc.) as scheduled transactions, meaning Quicken remembers how much I paid to each one, and let me make an entry in the same amount for NEXT month. It also remembers my paycheck, so towards the end of each month I go through the scheduled transactions for the following month and see how things are going to look in the weeks ahead. Makes it really simple -- and a lot more automatic than a spreadsheet, which is what we used to use.

Then, to keep me on track, I have scheduled transactions for our weekly household expenses -- groceries, eating out, etc.

The revolutionary thing: I manage my budget by subtracting those transactions from my Quicken balance at the beginning of the week. (I refer to them as placeholder entries, because they are showing what my balance WILL be after I've spent all the money I've budgeted.) Then when I actually spend money toward that category of expenses, I change the placeholder to reflect the money I've spent.

Here's how it works: Let's say at the beginning of the week I have a placeholder entry under Groceries, for $100. I subtract $100 from my account in Quicken, which then shows that my balance is, let's say, $547.90.

The next day I go to the store and spend $30. I make two entries: one is the $30 I spent at the store, which makes my balance $517.90.

But then I change my "placeholder" entry by that same $30, which means two things change: the Groceries entry now shows $70 -- the amount I have left for the rest of the week -- and the balance goes back to $547.90 -- the amount I WILL have in the bank after I spend all the money I've budgeted for the week.

Make sense? (Yeah, it's a little like the opening of "The Meaning Of Life," -- "We lease this machine back from the company we sold it to, thereby taking it out of the operating expenses instead of the capital accounts." And everybody claps....)

Why this has revolutionized my bookkeeping is that I USED to know how much money I'd spent. NOW I know how much money I have AVAILABLE to spend.

I've gotten into the habit of looking over the account several times a week (and since I can download transactions, it's a piece of cake to keep synchronized with the bank). I know how much money we have left to spend this week, because I checked it after lunch.

The thing that makes this all worthwhile is that it means I only have to manage ONE number in my head each week -- how much is left in that week's budget. The rest of it is all tracked in Quicken. Oh, right -- I also use online bill pay and have taken to setting up the bills a month in advance. So all of December's bills are set up to be paid when they're due, and their amounts are already deducted from the bank account. So now I don't have to think about when the cell phone gets paid or how much to send the car insurance -- I handle that all at once, in about 20 minutes, and it's all done for the next month. I only have to worry about how much we have left for groceries and lunches with my wife -- and that is a revolution for us...

Answer 3

Keep one of those mini spiral bound notebooks with you and write down what you spend every day, no matter what you spend it on.

Do this for at least 2 weeks to a month. Then go back and review, you'll right away the frivolous things you spent your money on. And you'll begin to save more and spend less.

That's a start.

Answer 4

I am gonna be real. Try to not spend so much, u need to budget. Also take away the petty eating out and the buying coffee's and so forth. you will be surprised how much money u will save.

Answer 5

Try John Dillinger.